Big-screen TVs a big hit at Taipei show

Staff writer, with CNA

Tue, Dec 04, 2012 - Page 13

Big-screen televisions continued to attract a lot of attention at IT Month yesterday, which was the third day of the nation’s largest consumer electronics show.

Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the nation’s largest telecommunications carrier, said that since the opening of the show on Saturday, a lot of attendees have inquired about the 60-inch TVs manufactured by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密).

However, a Chunghwa Telecom executive said some consumers had doubts about the practicality of buying a 60-inch TV if one lives in a small apartment.

Hon Hai’s 60-inch television sets are being bundled with a subscription package to Chunghwa Telecom’s multimedia-on-demand (MOD) services to boost MOD subscriptions.

Since launching the package early last month, sales of the TVs have exceeded 2,000 units, almost doubling predictions, and it is estimated that sales could reach 5,000 units by the end of this month.

BenQ Taiwan (明基) managing director Robert Dung (董于震) said the public’s interest in big-screen televisions has been whipped up since the introduction of Hon Hai’s 60-inch TVs early last month.

He added that BenQ’s 42-inch, 55-inch TVs and smart TVs have also been selling well, accounting for more than 60 percent of its television sales at the IT expo.

Dung said that the company expects to sell 2,000 big-screen sets at the show as well as other outlets in the near future.

Sony Corp also reported strong sales of its 40-inch TVs in the first two days of IT Month.

A Sony executive said that the reasonable NT$28,000 (US$963) price tag of 40-inch TVs has drawn substantial interest from the public.

The executive said that in the first two days of the show, the sales of its 40-inch, 46-inch, 55-inch and 65-inch TVs were between 5 percent and 10 percent higher than at last year’s show.

IT Month will run through Sunday at the Taipei World Trade Center’s Exhibition Hall 1 and Hall 3, after which it is scheduled to travel south, stopping in Greater Taichung from Dec. 14 to Dec. 19; in Greater Kaohsiung from Dec. 28 to Jan. 2; and in Greater Tainan from Jan. 10 to Jan. 15. Admission to the expo is free.